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Synaxis of All Saints of Alaska
Synaxis of All Saints of Alaska

On the anniversary of the arrival of the Russian missionaries in Alaska (1794), we remember Saint Herman of Alaska, Saint Innocent, Saint Jacob Netsvetev, and the New Martyrs Saint Peter the Aleut, Protomartyr of America, and Saint Juvenal.

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Troparion & Kontakion
Martyr Peter the Aleut
Martyr Peter the Aleut

Saint Peter the Aleut is mentioned in the Life of Saint Herman of Alaska (December 13). Simeon Yanovsky (who ended his life as the schemamonk Sergius in the Saint Tikhon of Kaluga Monastery), has left the following account: “On another occasion I was relating to him how the Spanish in…

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Troparion & Kontakion
Martyr Juvenal of Alaska
Martyr Juvenal of Alaska

Saint Juvenal, the Protomartyr of America, was born in 1761 in Nerchinsk, Siberia. His secular name was John Feodorovich Hovorukhin, and he was trained as a mining engineer. In a letter to Abbot Nazarius of Valaam (December 13, 1819), Saint Herman says that Saint Juvenal “had been an…

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Troparion & Kontakion
Protomartyr and Equal of the Apostles Thekla
Protomartyr and Equal of the Apostles Thekla

The Holy Protomartyr and Equal of the Apostles Thekla was born in the city of Iconium. She was the daughter of rich and illustrious parents, and she was distinguished by extraordinary beauty. At eighteen years of age they betrothed her to an eminent youth. But after she heard the preaching of the…

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Troparion & Kontakion
Venerable Nίkander Wonderworker of Pskov
Venerable Nίkander Wonderworker of Pskov

Saint Nίkander (Νίκανδρος) of Pskov was born on July 24, 1507 into a peasant family in the village of Videlebo in the land of Pskov. His parents were called Philip and Anastasia, and in Holy Baptism, he was named Nikon. From childhood he dreamed of continuing the ascetical contests of…

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Troparion & Kontakion
Monastic Martyr Galacteon of Vologda
Monastic Martyr Galacteon of Vologda

Monkmartyr Galacteon of Vologda: Fearing the wrath of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, kinsmen of the disgraced prince Ivan Ivanovich Belsky secretly brought his seven-year-old son Gabriel to the city of Staritsa. In the years of his growing up, and seeing the malice of the Tsar towards his family, the…

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Troparion & Kontakion
Venerable Copres of Palestine

Saint Copres was found as a newborn infant by monks of the monastery of Saint Theodosius in Palestine. He lay upon a dung-hill (in Greek “kopria”), where his mother left him during an invasion of the Hagarenes (Moslems). The monks took the infant, named him Copres, fed him goat’s…

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Troparion & Kontakion
Venerable Abramius, Abbot of Mirozh, Pskov
Venerable Abramius, Abbot of Mirozh, Pskov

Saint Abramius (Abraham) of Mirozh was the builder and first igumen of the Pskov Savior-Transfiguration monastery on the banks of the River Velika, where it meets the River Mirozha. The Mirozh monastery was founded in about the year 1156, in the time of Svyatopolk Mstislavich, by both Saint…

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Troparion & Kontakion
Saint Vladislav of Serbia
Saint Vladislav of Serbia

Holy King Vladislav of Serbia was the son of holy King Stephen, and he reigned for seven years. He was noted for his virtue and charity towards the poor, the vagrant and the misfortunate, and he built a monastery at Milesheva, where he died in 1239 and was buried.

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Venerable Dorothy of Kashin

Saint Dorothy of Kashin was born in 1549 of a noble family. No information has come down to us about her name before she became a nun, or the place of her birth. From the age of twelve, she lived in a climate of civil unrest, and the area was subject to rebellion, invasion, and plague. Later, she…

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Troparion & Kontakion
Venerable Silouan of Mount Athos
Venerable Silouan of Mount Athos

No information available at this time.

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Troparion & Kontakion
“Mirozh” Icon of the Mother of God
“Mirozh” Icon of the Mother of God

The Mirozh Icon appeared at the Mirozh monastery in the year 1198. But later, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, at a time when a plague raged at Pskov, an ancient report tells how tears flowed from both eyes of the icon. Many benefits and healings for man occured from the icon of the Mother of…

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Icon of the Mother of God “of the Myrtle Tree”
Icon of the Mother of God “of the Myrtle Tree”

The Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Of the Myrtle Tree” (Myrtidiotissa) is in the monastery church of Myrtides on the Greek island of Kythera. It derives its name from the fact that it was found in a myrtle bush in the fourteenth century. At that time, a shepherd was tending his sheep…

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Troparion & Kontakion
Venerable Simon of Serbia

No information available at this time.

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Troparion & Kontakion
Venerable David of Serbia

Saint David, a nephew of holy King Stephen, in the world had the name Demetrius. He built a monastery at Brodarova, at the River Lima, and there he received monastic tonsure with the name David and lived an ascetical life to the end of his days.

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Troparion & Kontakion
Holy King Stephen of Serbia
Holy King Stephen of Serbia

Holy King Stephen of Serbia was the first ruler of Serbia to be crowned as king. His father was Saint Stephen Nemanya (February 13). King Stephen died in 1224, accepting monastic tonsure with the name Simeon before his death. He was buried in the Studenitsa monastery.

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The Prologue
The Prologue of Ochrid: September 24th

1. The Holy Protomartyr Thecia, Equal to the Apostles.

Thecla was born in Iconium of eminent pagan parents. She was betrothed at the age of eighteen to a young man, at the time that the Apostle Paul came to Iconium with Bamabas to preach the Gospel. Listening to Paul for three days and nights, Thecla turned utterly to the Christian faith and vowed to live in virginity. Her mother, seeing that she shunned her betrothed and thought no more of marriage, first talked to her and then beat her and starved her. Finally, she gave her over to the judges and demanded, wicked mother that she was, that 'Mecla be burned. The judge threw her into the flames, but God preserved her unharmed. Thecla then became a follower of the Apostle Paul, and went with him to Antioch. Attracted by Thecla's beauty, an elder of the city attempted to take her by force, but Thecla tore herself out of his grasp. The elder denounced her to the governor as a Christian who was averse to marriage. The governor condemned her to death and threw her to the wild beasts, but the animals would not touch the body of this holy virgin. Amazed at this, the governor asked: 'Who are you, and what is the power that you have in you, that nothing can do you harm?' Thecia replied: 'I am a servant of the living God.' Then the governor let her go free, and she began to preach the Gospel and succeeded in bringing many to the true Faith, among whom was an eminent and honoured widow, Tryphena. After this, St Thecla, with the blessing of the Apostle Paul, withdrew to a solitary place near Seleucia. She lived a long time there in asceticism, healing the sick with miraculous power and in this way bringing many to Christianity. The doctors in Seleucia were jealous of her and sent some young men to assault her, hoping that, in losing her virginity, she would lose also her miraculous power. Thecla fled from these insolent young men and, when she saw that they would catch her, prayed to God for help in front of a rock, and the rock opened and hid the holy maiden and bride of Christ. This rock was her hiding place and her tomb . St Chrysostom says of this wonderful Christian heroine and saint: 'I seem to see this blessed virgin going to Christ with virginity in one hand and martyrdom in the other.'

2. St Stephen, King of Serbia, the First-Crowned (Simon the Monk).

Crowned king at Zica, his foundation, by his brother and spiritual father, St Sava, he was a devout Christian and a wise and peaceloving ruler. Stephen, together with St Sava, raised Orthodoxy to great heights among his people. At his desire, St Sava made him a monk at the time of his death, giving him the name Simon. He entered into rest in the Lord on September 24th, 1224, and his relics are preserved at Studenica.

3. St David (formerly Prince Dimitrije).

Son of Vukan, Stephen's brother, he built the monastery at Lim, at which he himself became a monk.

4. The Holy Prince Vladislav.

Son of King Stephen, he built the monastery of Mileseva, whither he took St Sava's relics from Trnovo. He was distinguished by a rare compassion for the poor. On the coinage of his time, he had inscribed: 'The servant of God Vladislav'.

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